drin@nro.cs.athabascau.ca (Adrian Smith) (04/29/91)
uad1121@dircon.co.uk (Jonathan Tilley) writes: > > A friend of mine has heard via a NeXT employee that Steve > Jobs has announced at the launch of NeXT France that Pixar > will release a version of Renderman for the NeXT. Acording to > my source, it will run on all flavours of NeXT and will > use the i860 on the dimension board to give real time shading! > Also the jpeg chip cock up has been fixed - NeXT are making > a daughter board containing a compression chip for the > dimension board. > Has anyone else heard about these issues?? > > Jonathan Tilley No, but I'd be interested in hearing more. I understood the JPEG issue was dead, as NeXT had decided not to implement compression in hardware at all. As for Renderman, if it'll run on my mono 040, I want it!! Anybody else know anything about it? -drin -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Disclaimer: How can I speak for anyone? I don't *work* for anyone!! -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Adrian Smith ersys!drin@nro.cs.athabascau.ca Edmonton Remote Systems: Serving Northern Alberta since 1982
uad1121@dircon.co.uk (Jonathan Tilley) (04/30/91)
A friend of mine has heard via a NeXT employee that Steve Jobs has announced at the launch of NeXT France that Pixar will release a version of Renderman for the NeXT. Acording to my source, it will run on all flavours of NeXT and will use the i860 on the dimension board to give real time shading! Also the jpeg chip cock up has been fixed - NeXT are making a daughter board containing a compression chip for the dimension board. Has anyone else heard about these issues?? Jonathan Tilley
ernest@cithep.caltech.edu (Ernest Prabhakar) (04/30/91)
In article <1991Apr29.171838.1889@dircon.co.uk> uad1121@dircon.co.uk (Jonathan Tilley) writes: > > A friend of mine has heard via a NeXT employee that Steve > Jobs has announced at the launch of NeXT France that Pixar > will release a version of Renderman for the NeXT. > Has anyone else heard about these issues?? I called Pixar on the phone, and they said they would have a version for the NeXT in June that I could buy for $2,500 (plus 50% off educational). I haven't gotten written confirmation, but that seems to be the current situation. Oh yes, they said it would run on my '040 monochrome. -- Ernest N. Prabhakar, Caltech High Energy Physics ernest@pundit.cithep.caltech.edu CaJUN President "If we are out of our minds, it is for God." - II Cor 5:13a
absinthe@hardy.u.washington.edu (Daniel Faken) (04/30/91)
In article <1991Apr29.171838.1889@dircon.co.uk> uad1121@dircon.co.uk (Jonathan Tilley) writes: > >A friend of mine has heard via a NeXT employee that Steve >Jobs has announced at the launch of NeXT France that Pixar >will release a version of Renderman for the NeXT. [..] ..Speaking of Pixar, was everyone aware that Steve Jobs *OWNS* it? I sure wasn't... (The May 6 issue of fortune has a brief article on his 'next' project: "reanimating a company nobody knows he's got" - Pixar evidently is not flourishing) just fyi... ----------------------------------------------------------------------------\ absinthe@u.washington.edu | Daniel Faken | NeRC |
bedney@lanl.gov (Bill Edney) (05/01/91)
In article <1991Apr29.171838.1889@dircon.co.uk> uad1121@dircon.co.uk (Jonathan Tilley) writes: > > A friend of mine has heard via a NeXT employee that Steve > Jobs has announced at the launch of NeXT France that Pixar > will release a version of Renderman for the NeXT. Acording to > my source, it will run on all flavours of NeXT and will > use the i860 on the dimension board to give real time shading! > Also the jpeg chip cock up has been fixed - NeXT are making > a daughter board containing a compression chip for the > dimension board. > Has anyone else heard about these issues?? > > Jonathan Tilley The problem of the C-Cubed JPEG compression chip has been solved. My relatively well informed sources tell me that NeXT will indeed put the JPEG chip on a daughterboard. This daughterboard will clip onto the NeXTdimension board. We should see prototypes of this daughterboard in June or July time-frame with quantity shipping in August or Sept. NeXTdimension has already started shipping in VERY LIMITED QUANTITY, with large quantities shipping by June/July. This might actually turn out to be a benefit for NeXT (putting the compression chip on a daughterboard). This will allow them to sell a "hardware-compression version" and a "non-hardware-compression version" of the NeXTdimension at two different prices. It will also allow users to swap daughterboards 3 years down the road when a new compression chip hits the market (MPEG possibly). - Bill Edney - Los Alamos National Laboratory "I don't speak for my employer and they don't speak for me. Kind of a nice arrangement."
greg@sif.claremont.edu (Tigger) (05/01/91)
In article <1991Apr30.064641.24388@hardy.u.washington.edu>, absinthe@hardy.u.washington.edu (Daniel Faken) writes: > > ...Speaking of Pixar, was everyone aware that Steve Jobs *OWNS* it? > I sure wasn't... If I recall correctly, Jobs is one of the largest investors but does not "own" the company. I don't think he even has a majority share... | Greg Orman Let's get lost | | greg@pomona.claremont.edu - Fieger/Averre |
wave@media-lab.media.mit.edu.MEDIA.MIT.EDU (Michael B. Johnson) (05/01/91)
In article <1991Apr30.181640.1@sif.claremont.edu> greg@sif.claremont.edu (Tigger) writes: >>In article <1991Apr30.064641.24388@hardy.u.washington.edu>, absinthe@hardy.u.washington.edu (Daniel Faken) writes: >>> >>> ...Speaking of Pixar, was everyone aware that Steve Jobs *OWNS* it? >>> I sure wasn't... >> >>If I recall correctly, Jobs is one of the largest investors but does not >>"own" the company. I don't think he even has a majority share... >> >>| Greg Orman Let's get lost | >>| greg@pomona.claremont.edu - Fieger/Averre | Last I checked, Jobs owned exactly 51% of Pixar. That data comes from an article I read several (1987?) years ago when Jobs bought into Pixar, so I could be misremembering, but I doubt it. i.e., he doesn't own the whole thing, but he is the majority stockholder. As to the bundling of Renderman increasing the cost of the upgrade, I think the idea is to "bundle it" the same way say, Mathematica, is bundled. Mathematica is an expensive program on other machines, but because NeXT and Wolfram cut a deal, it comes to you with the educational purchase of your machine. In other words, I think (and hope!) it will be bundled, but don't think it will increase the cost of 3.0. -- --> Michael B. Johnson --> MIT Media Lab -- Computer Graphics & Animation Group --> (617) 253-0663 -- wave@media-lab.media.mit.edu
dwboyce@acsu.buffalo.edu (Doug Boyce) (05/01/91)
In article <5767@media-lab.media.mit.edu.MEDIA.MIT.EDU> wave@media-lab.media.mit.edu (Michael B. Johnson) writes:
Last I checked, Jobs owned exactly 51% of Pixar. That data comes from an
article I read several (1987?) years ago when Jobs bought into Pixar, so I
could be misremembering, but I doubt it. i.e., he doesn't own the whole
thing, but he is the majority stockholder. As to the bundling of Renderman
increasing the cost of the upgrade, I think the idea is to "bundle it" the
same way say, Mathematica, is bundled. Mathematica is an expensive program
on other machines, but because NeXT and Wolfram cut a deal, it comes to you
with the educational purchase of your machine.
In other words, I think (and hope!) it will be bundled, but don't think it
will increase the cost of 3.0.
For a little blurb about him owning Pixar look at Fortune's May 6 '91 issue
(around page 111).
--
Doug Boyce dwboyce@acsu.buffalo.edu
"Speedballs are interesting if you aren't the cannoneer doing the running."
"Where's that Lotto ticket, I want a NeXT NoW!"bedney@lanl.gov (Bill Edney) (05/01/91)
In article <1991Apr30.181640.1@sif.claremont.edu> greg@sif.claremont.edu (Tigger) writes: > In article <1991Apr30.064641.24388@hardy.u.washington.edu>, absinthe@hardy.u.washington.edu (Daniel Faken) writes: > > > > ...Speaking of Pixar, was everyone aware that Steve Jobs *OWNS* it? > > I sure wasn't... > > If I recall correctly, Jobs is one of the largest investors but does not > "own" the company. I don't think he even has a majority share... > > | Greg Orman Let's get lost | > | greg@pomona.claremont.edu - Fieger/Averre | From what I understand, Steve definitely has at least controlling interest. Alvy Ray Smith talked about and demoed a new technology he was developing called Iceman (for image editing). He said that he had formed a new company to sell this technology, but the only problem now was getting permission from Steve to sell it, since he had developed it under the auspices of Pixar. Also, if Steve has controlling interest in Pixar, why would bundling Renderman with 3.0 substantially increase the cost of the upgrade?? The whole purpose of bundling Renderman is to add value to the NeXT platform in general and NeXTdimension in particular. - Bill Edney - Los Alamos National Laboratory "I don't speak for my employer and they don't speak for me. Kind of a nice arrangement."